Chapter Text
Parrot was distressed, sitting in the apartment of a man whose face he recognized, painfully so. The wing that sprouted from the sides of his head were around him, hiding his face from view.
Just about an hour ago, he had ended up in this strange “other” world after going through the End portal. The city full of tall buildings, bustling streets filled with moving machines he had never seen before, had overwhelmed him instantly. He had wandered around without a purpose, staring down at his feet, ignoring the bewildered looks of passerbys. His chest felt hollow. He wasn’t sure how to navigate this place, or even where to start.
The strangest part — the crowds of people were all human. Rare, but possible, he supposed once his mind cleared up a little. But they would keep staring. Pointing at him, whispering, stopping in the middle of the streets and getting in his way. Never had anyone acted like this towards him. Of course, he had been hunted, attacked, amongst other things, but this? He couldn’t wrap his head around it.
At some point, Parrot had finally properly lifted his head to look around. In that moment, he had caught a glimpse of a face that made his heart sink. His head spun as he pushed through the crowds to get a closer look. The person was moving fast, as if they knew this place well.
It was Wifies! Parrot was sure of it! His face, those moles, that messy hair (that somehow seemed too tidy now), it was him, it had to be! Parrot’s shoulder blades ached as he bumped and pushed through people, as if they were crying for wings that were long gone, joints moving and muscles stretching as if he could take flight once more.
Parrot reached him, tackling him to the ground. His grip on Wifies was tight as he heaved, anger finally pulsing out in waves through his adrenaline.
“You. You…” He choked out. “You’re alive? How? How did you survive! Why am I seeing your face again!”
“I’ll kill you!” He screeched, all common sense disappearing from his brain as he thought of his cage, his lost wings, his best friend from years ago. “I swear, I’ll… Wifies, why are you back?”
“You’ve outsmarted me again. You’ve somehow put me back in Paragon.” Parrot’s voice was full of disbelief and panic. His head wings twitched, spreading open wide, a measly attempt at intimidation. His hands wrapped around Wifies’ neck.
The man in question stared up at him, his eyes wide in shock and his breaths shallow. He shook his head once, then a few more times. What the hell was happening? He was finally outside for once after filming gameplay for God knows how long, and what now? He was getting attacked by a crazy cosplayer? Well, not quite. The thing was, this man sounded exactly like Parrot. Scarily so. He had no idea what was going on, and a million thoughts were rushing through his mind. But that wasn’t his biggest concern right now.
Wifies’ hands touched Parrot’s around his neck and hesitantly tried pulling. “Please, bro, calm down,” he said weakly, as gently as he could. “I really don’t know who you are. Let’s talk about this, okay? I live five minutes away.”
Parrot wasn’t budging. He was still glaring at him with wide, tired eyes. Fuck, okay. What now?
“I’m sure someone’s called the cops already. I don’t think you should get arrested for a misunderstanding?”
That seemed to help. Parrot’s eyes flicked around, scanning the faces of the people watching them in the middle of the street. He slowly let go, standing up carefully and wrapping his arms around himself. He was awfully on guard. If this was what Wifies thought it was… he supposed it made sense.
“Let’s go.” Parrot’s voice was quiet, almost hoarse. He grabbed Wifies’ shirt and pulled him up with surprising strength, causing the other to yelp a little. Wifies quickly dusted himself off, smiling sheepishly as he caught a glance of all the witnesses, his face heating up in embarrassment. So many of them were filming. He felt a little like dying.
Wifies hung his head low as he guided Parrot through the streets, staying as far away as he could from him without losing him. Every time he looked back to check he was following, Parrot, without fail, had the same wide-eyed stare trained onto him. Wifies swallowed loudly, trying to pretend as if that stare didn’t exist.
When they got to Wifies’ shared apartment, he had offered Parrot a drink, which got him the exact same stare in reply. He decided shutting up was for the best. Especially when the person you were talking to had just tried to kill him on the streets. Instead, he followed Parrot as the other carefully perched onto the corner of the dining table. Wifies pulled out a chair for himself, sitting across from him. Trying to stop himself from gawking at the man was difficult.
“I think the End portal messed with my brain, somehow,” Parrot suddenly started talking to himself quietly, startling Wifies. It had been quite a few minutes of sitting in silence, Parrot staring off blankly as Wifies fiddled with his hands. He blinked at him.
“This is… weird. I haven’t been to spawn in years, but this can’t be what it’s like. I know it isn’t. And you?” He looked down at Wifies. “The last time I saw you was like a few hours ago. There’s no way you’ve changed so much, there’s no way I’ll ever forget. There’s no way you should be alive!” He exclaimed, breathing a little labored.
“Maybe, this is… some sort of different dimension. An alternate universe. And somehow, I’ve… ended up with another version of Wifies. That must be it.” He frowned at him. “What do you do here? You… can’t be the Director, can you?”
Wifies smiled awkwardly. “Well, no. All I do is go to college. And make Minecraft videos.” He decided not to mention anything about Unstable Universe just yet. Or the fact that he was pretty sure this Parrot was the character he himself had helped out a little in writing. And was also the Parrot that his character that he played had pretty much traumatized for life. Fuck him, how was he going to ever explain any of this? Doing so would probably actually get him killed this time.
Parrot was looking at him with a strange expression. Oh. Was college a thing for him? Would Minecraft characters be aware of the concept of Minecraft existing? Maybe not. Wifies just assumed that was the case, and that Parrot didn’t want to admit he had no idea what he was talking about.
“I don’t understand,” Parrot responded with a strained voice. “Why’ve I been cursed to meet you again? I actually don’t know what to do, bro.”
“Well… I’m not exactly the me you remember. Does that make it better?”
Parrot hid his face in his hands and shook his head. “Your face is the same. It doesn’t make a difference.” Wifies paused. The unexpected response made him lose his train of thought for a moment.
“I see. That’s okay. Uh. What do you remember happening? Maybe something that could be connected to why you’re here? Do you even know where you are?”
Parrot peered at him through his fingers. Well, it was more like a glare, actually…
“I blew you up in Paragon.” His voice was surprisingly steady. “Then, I left. And I should’ve ended up at the server’s spawn.” He removed his hands and frowned. “Actually, I don’t know where this is…”
“Well, this isn’t the server. We’re in my apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In the United States of America, on Earth.”
Parrot just stared at him with an unreadable expression. “America. Earth. Right.”
Wifies wasn’t really sure how else to explain it. He decided to let Parrot draw his own conclusion. “Yeah… So… I think I know a little about where you’re from.”
Parrot perked up at that. His head wings puffed out. “You do? How?”
Wifies glanced away and licked his lips out of habit. “Of course. That’s because I wrote—”
The doorbell chimed in two short bursts. “Wifies?” A voice rang from the corridor. Wifies shot up out of his chair, eager to interrupt the conversation. “Sorry, give me a moment.” He left quickly, ignoring Parrot’s expression.
Parrot was home. His Parrot, the real one.